James A. Taylor had eyes the color of summer sky, and he was, undoubtedly, the strangest person Meg had ever met in her life. So tall and skinny and just—strange. She couldn’t stop staring at him.

His hair fell in an unruly blond mass around his face, and when he smiled it lit up his eyes. But at the moment, he looked worried. His eyebrows bunched together over the bridge of his nose, and his mouth frowned.

Not that she blamed him. He was lost, and he was going to have to trust a stranger if he wanted to get home again.

How do I get him to trust me? Meg took a deep breath. I have to get him to trust me.

Meg sighed.

Tolan always said the best way to earn someone’s trust was to be worthy of it. That meant telling the truth, even when it wasn’t convenient.

“This isn’t–your world at all, Jim.” Meg stepped toward him. Jim. What a strange name. “This is a different world entirely.”

Jim’s face scrunched up, his eyes shifting back and forth until his expression went slack. His eyes widened. “Oh.” His skin went gray.

“Oh?”

Was he going to be sick? Danny looked like that whenever he was going to throw up.

“Oh, man.” Jim turned away from here. “There goes my thesis.”

Meg started to ask what a thesis was when the latch on her door clicked.

No time.

No time to make excuses or hide him or do anything but spin around in horror as the door flung open, and Jenny came dashing into the room at top speed.

“Meg!” the little blonde hollered. “I’m going to Palayta Village to pick up the winter cherry root the Avi just—dropped—off.” Jenny’s voice faded away as she realized who was in the room with Meg.

Meg held still with her hands in the air. “Jenny.”

Jenny’s mouth hung open, and she lifted a hand to point at Jim. She looked at Meg, and then she looked back at Jim. Still pointing.

“Jenny,” Meg started slowly.

Calming Jenny down when she was excited about something was like trying to wrestle a pastel tornado. The only way it worked was to stop her before she got started.

“That’s a boy,” Jenny whispered.

“Yes, Jenny.”

“A boy.” Her voice turned shrill.

“Jenny.”

“There’s a boy in your room!” Jenny shrieked, jumping in place. Still pointing.

Jim waved awkwardly. “Hi.”

“And it talks!”

Meg dove for her little sister and missed. Jenny bounded toward Jim and seized his hand out of the air, shaking it up and down like a pumpjack.

“Hi, I’m Jenny, and I’m really cool and I bet you’re really cool because you’re super tall and you’re human. Where’s your fur? Do you have a tail? Where did you come from? Are you going to marry my sister? You should marry her. Wouldn’t that be great? Have you ever seen fuzzy slippers? I don’t think they’re real, but what if they are?”

Jim stumbled backward until he fell into the chair, but Jenny didn’t let go of his hand, still shaking it like she was churning butter.

“Jenny, stop.” Meg grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away. “Let him go.”

“Meg, there’s a boy!” Jenny flung her arms around Meg’s neck and spun them in a circle. “And he’s handsome. Don’t you think he’s handsome?”

Meg blinked. Oh, right. That’s the word. She shook herself. “Jenny, calm down.”

“How can I calm down when there’s a boy in your room?”

A thump sounded outside. “There’s a boy in your room?”

Meg groaned. “Oh no.”

Danny thrust his carrot-haired head through Meg’s door with a fierce expression on his freckled face. Meg pointed to him.

“Out.”

“There is a boy in your room!”

“Out, Danny. Now.”

Danny ignored her and stomped toward Jim, who clung to the chair in wide-eyed alarm.

“Danny, it’s a boy!” Jenny clapped her hands and danced in a circle. “I think he’s from Terran! Don’t you think he’s from Terran? I bet he knows everything about fuzzy slippers and rubber ducks!”

Meg grabbed her little brother’s shoulder. “I can explain everything. He’s not a threat. So no need to arm wrestle.”

“Arm wrestle?” Jim yelped.

Danny scoffed. “What kind of a man doesn’t arm wrestle? It’s a test of character!”

Jim stammered, glancing from one Mitchell to the next. He looked like a suffocating trout.

“Both of you, leave now.” Meg turned Danny around and pushed him toward her door. “I have a plan.”

“Are you going to let us in on it?” Danny wrinkled his nose at her.

“No.”

Danny squirmed out of her hold. “Then I need to arm wrestle him. For the greater good.”

“Danny!” Meg grabbed for him.

He got around her and planted his feet in front of Jim, arms crossed and chin lifted. “What do you, skinny? Wanna fight?”

Jim held up his hands. “No, man. No, I’m not a fighter.” He threw a helpless look at Meg. “I just want to go home. I don’t know where I am or how I got here, okay?”

Meg slid between Danny and Jim and thumped her little brother on the forehead. “There. Satisfied?”

“Not even close.” Danny batted her away. “I don’t trust him. He’s–kultil.”

Meg choked. “Kultil? Him?” She pointed. “Danny, I don’t think he knows how to lie. Look at him. He’s an open book.”

“Um, hi, I’m right here.” Jim waved again.

“He’s too pretty to be kultil,” Jenny declared from where she had started arranging Meg’s cactus plants on a shelf. “Only ugly people are kultil.”

“Oh, that’s not the case.” Danny snorted. “Besides, his eyes are too close together.”

“Danny.”

“And his legs are too long.”

“Danny!”

Jim held up his hands. “I can hear everything you’re saying. You know you’re speaking English? Because you’re speaking English.”

Danny cackled and turned to Meg. “Maan leejie ki vah badasoorat hai.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “Mature, Danny. Very mature.”

Jim sat up in his chair. “You want to say I’m ugly?”

Danny stopped laughing, and Meg turned back to Jim in surprise.

“You understood that?” Meg gasped.

Jenny squealed and clapped her hands. “That’s amazing! He speaks Celtican?”

“How can he speak Celtican? Isn’t he from Terran?” Danny pointed.

Jim held his hands up again and sat back in the chair. They stared in silence for a long moment before Jim scowled.

“Kultil?” He exclaimed. “You think I’m shifty?”

Danny crossed his arms. “You look shifty to me.”

“Stop.” Meg took Danny’s arm. “This isn’t helping.”

“Why is there a boy from Terran who can speak Celtican in your room, Meg?” Danny hissed at her. “Does Velanna know?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell her?”

“Yes.”

Danny made a face.

“Eventually.”

Danny made another face.

“I hope your face sticks like that.” Meg turned away from him and looked at Jim. “How do you speak Celtican?”

Jenny bounced across the room and settled on the floor at his feet, gazing up at him with a wondrous adoring face. Jim shifted away from her.

“Uh–I don’t. I don’t know what you’re talking about. That was Hindi. I speak Hindi.” Jim wiped his hands on his jeans. “I speak lots of languages.”

Meg narrowed her eyes. “Aap samajhate hain?”

“Haan main samajhata hoon.” Jim sighed. “Yeah, I understand.”

“That’s so amazing.” Jenny propped her chin on her hands. “Can you tell us a story? Where are you from? How did you get here? Why did you come? Are you looking for treasure? Or do you just want to get married?”

“Jenny, please.” Meg scrubbed her hands down her face.

“I think this has been a big misunderstanding,” Jim said. “This was all an accident. I don’t know how I got here, and I just need to go home. I need to find the others, and we’ll get out of your hair.”

Danny scowled. “How are you in our hair? What does hair have to do with anything?”

Meg held up her hand. “Others? What do you mean others?”

Jim shrugged. “There were two other people in the lab with me when the portal opened. I can’t imagine they didn’t get sucked into it too.”

Meg folded her arms again.

That complicated things. It was bad enough that Jim was here. If there were two more Terrans somewhere in Rainbow Valley?

“If you all came through the same rip, why was it just you who came out here?” Meg frowned.

Jim chuckled. “You’re asking me that like I know? Look, I don’t know what’s going on. If any of you can help me, that would be really great.”

“Oh, Meg, let’s help him.” Jenny tapped Meg on the knee. “We should help. It’s good to help. That’s what you’re always telling me.” She sat up straight. “I’ll make food. A picnic! We can go search for your friends, and I’ll bring sandwiches and tea. We’ll have fun!”

Danny had fallen strangely silent.

Meg glanced at him to find his gaze directed toward the back of the room. With her heart in her throat, Meg turned to face her door.

She fought the urge to sag.

Tzaitel Ittai, her sister and Tolan and Velanna’s blood daughter, stood in the doorway with one eye arched. Meg shut her eyes and bit her bottom lip. So much for her grand plan.

“Margaret?” Tzaitel started.

“Yes, Tzaitel.”

“Is that a human boy?”

“Yes, Tzaitel.”

“Why is there a human boy in your room?”

“I found him in the garden.” Meg shrugged. “Threw him in the wheelbarrow and carried him in.”

Jim blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “It sounds really bad when you say it like that.”

Meg smiled at him apologetically and turned back to Tzaitel. “I was going to tell, Mother. I just wanted to talk to him first.”

Tzaitel stepped into the room, graceful and poised. She was taller than Meg by several inches. Her skirts and robes rustled around her long legs, and she paused in front of Jim, gazing down at him imperiously.

Jim regarded her in silence.

He swallowed audibly. “Huh.”

Tzaitel lifted both eyebrows. “Have you made an observation, human?”

“You’re not human,” Jim said, his tone almost reverent. “How–is that possible?” His eyes shifted to Meg. “You said this wasn’t my world. I think I believe you.”

Tzaitel turned away from Jim and started back toward the bedroom door. She paused at the wheelbarrow and reached inside, pulling out Charles Mitchell’s journal and the encyclopedia about Ireland. She smiled softly and pinned Meg with a sad look.

“Shall I inform Mother? Or will you?”

Meg approached her and took the books from her outstretched hand. “I’ll tell her.”

“Now?”

Meg nodded. “Now.”

Tzaitel turned her vivid green eyes back to Jim for a moment. She took a deep breath and let it out. She tucked her arm in Meg’s and led her to the doorway while Jenny and Danny both began to barrage Jim with questions again.

Tzaitel patted the side of Meg’s face. “Father told me about the letter you found.”

Meg flushed.

“Did you think to use this boy as a courier?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Tzaitel glanced back at him. “Perhaps it still is. Mother will not agree to it. Humans are dangerous and unpredictable.”

“Not all of us are,” Meg said.

Tzaitel smirked. “Yes, all of you. You just hide it better than most because you know what Mother expects.”

Meg smiled.

Tzaitel pulled away from her. “Go tell Mother what you have found. I will watch the human.” She crossed her arms.

“I don’t think he’s going to hurt us, Tzaitel.” Meg moved past her into the hallway.

“He may be your race, but he is not your blood.” Tzaitel leaned on the door frame, her gaze focused solely on Jim as he interacted with Jenny and Danny. “Trust must be earned, bhaina.”

“Yeah, I know.”  

Tzaitel tapped the side of her head. “I believe you have one of these?”

Meg smiled again. “A head? Yes. And I’m working on using it more.”

Tzaitel’s eyes sparkled. “Mother will be delighted to hear it.” She smirked. “I prefer you more reckless. It’s far more entertaining.”

Meg laughed. “Jenny’s already decided I should marry him.”

Tzaitel chuckled. “Jennifer plays matchmaker with the chickens, Margaret. I do not think her advice is worthy of consideration in this matter.” She tilted her head to the side. “Although, I suppose stranger things have happened.” She smiled. “You’re here after all.”

“Yeah.” Meg turned away. “And so is he.”

She started down the hallway, walking for the hearth room where she hoped she’d be able to track Velanna down. This wasn’t going to be pretty. When Velanna found out, she’d know exactly what Meg had been planning.

I’ll be running laps in the training room for a week. Meg winced to herself.

Tzaitel might have been right, and Meg trusted too easily. But Jim was kind. Meg knew it as certainly as she knew herself.

And if he’s right, there are two more Terrans somewhere in Rainbow Valley. Meg took a steadying breath. So much for a simple solution.

Meg paused as she entered the hearth room. Velanna stood at the far end of the large room with a stack of books in one arm. She turned to face Meg as she entered.

“Margaret?”

Meg met her gaze somberly, and Velanna’s expression hardened.

“What is wrong?”